C.pfe3\.l 


Agricultural  Depression: 
Its  Causes—The  Remedy 


CJe  JLi&rarp 

ottlje 

Glnfoeasitp  of  Jl3ort&  Carolina 


<HW  &"">&  toag  ptegenteti 


CpG3l.l 
PTGa.1 


cZ 


AGRICULTURAL  DEPRESSION. 

ITS  CAUSES-THE  REMEDY. 


SPEECH 


L.   L.    POLK, 

President  of  the   National   Farmers'  Alliance 
and   Industrial    Union, 

BEFORE  THE 


SENATE  COMMITTEE  ON  AGRICULTURE 
AND  FORESTRY. 


APRIL  22,  1890. 


RALEIGH  : 

Edwards  &  Broughton,  Printers  and  Binders. 

1890. 


AGRICULTURAL  DEPRESSION. 


ITS  CAUSES— THE  REMEDY. 


Speech  by  L.  L.   Polk,  President  of  the  National  Farmers' 
Alliance  and  Industrial  Union,  before  the  Senate  Com- 
mittee on  Agriculture  and  Forestry,  April  22,  1890. 


Senate  Bill  2806  ("Sub-Treasury  Bill.") 


Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Com- 
mittee: A  convention  of  representative  farmers 
was  held  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  December  3,  1889. 
That  body,  known  as  the  National  Farmers'  Alli- 
ance and  Industrial  Union,  represented  twenty- 
three  States  and  a  constituency  approximating,  at 

,  that  time,  fifteen  hundred  thousand  voters.  Since 
the  convention  of  our  fathers,  which  gave  us  our 
national  Constitution,  no  body  of  men  has  assem- 
bled in  this  country  who  were  more  profoundly 
impressed  with  the  gravity  of  the  situation,  or  were 
actuated  with  higher  motive  or  more  patriotic  pur- 
pose. After  a  calm,  dispassionate  and  earnest  inves- 
tigation of  the  conditions  and_  causes  which  have 
led  to  the  widespread  and  alarming  depression  that 
has  paralyzed  the  great  agricultural  interests  of  the 
country,  they  outlined  what  they  conceived  to  be  a 
measure  of  relief.     They  appointed  a  committee  on 

1  national  legislation,  which,  under  their  instructions, 
Cx    has   formulated   and  presented    to  both   houses  of 


Congress,  a  bill  embodying,  as,  it  believes,  a  safe, 
proper  and  just  solution  of  the  financial  trouble 
which  threatens  the  agricultural  interests  of  the 
country  with  bankruptcy  and  ruin.  I  refer  to 
Senate  bill  No.  2806,  introduced  into  your  body  by 
Senator  Vance,  of  North  Carolina. 

As  faithful  representatives,  you  must  be  satisfied 
as  to  whether  the  conditions  and  necessities  of  the 
country  are  such  as  to  justify  or  require  legislation 
in  this  direction.  And  whatever  may  be  your  con- 
clusions as  to  the  particular  method  here  presented, 
of  one  thing  I  feel  assured,  the  spectacle— unpar- 
alleled in  all  our  history — of  fifteen  hundred  thou- 
sand farmers — quiet,  unobtrusive,  law-loving,  law- 
abiding,  conservative  farmers— standing  at  the  doors 
of  Congress  demanding  relief,  must,  at  least,  com- 
mand your  respectful,  patriotic,  earnest  and  pro- 
found consideration. 

With  kindly  climatic  conditions,  with  varieties  of 
soil  admirably  adapted  to  the  successful  cultivation 
of  all  the  staple  products  demanded  by  commerce, 
with  transportation  facilities  equal  to  the  productive 
power  of  the  country,  with  the  world  as  his  cus- 
tomer, with  all  the  natural  facilities  and  conditions  for 
making  his  home  the  happiest,  the  most  prosperous, 
the  proudest  heritage  which  the  God  of  nature  ever 
vouchsafed  to  man,  urgent  and  extraordinary 
indeed  must  be  the  exigencies  which  thus  impel  the 
farmer  to  break  his  long  and  wonted  silence. 

Never  in  our  history  have  we  witnessed  such  mar- 
velous progress  and  development  as  has  marked  the 
two  past  decades.  The  flourishing  growth  of  cities, 
towns,  and  villages,  the  rapid  expansion  of  our  rail- 
way system,  the  unparalleled  prosperity  of  manu- 
facturing enterprise  in  all  its  departments,  the  easy 
and  ready  accumulation  of  prodigious  fortunes,  all 
conspire  to  impress  the  superficial  observer  with  the 


5 

happy  belief  that  all  departments  of  effort  and  all 
interests  share  in  common  this  apparently  unparal- 
leled condition  of  prosperity.  We  are,  therefore, 
not  wliolly  unprepared  for  the  argument  presented 
by  some,  even  in  high  official  position,  that  our 
straitened  financial  condition  as  farmers  is  largely, 
if  not  entirely,  due  to  the  munificent  and  bounteous 
provisions  of  a  merciful  Providence.  Nor,  indeed, 
in  the  wild  rush  of  this  almost  bewildering  progress 
are  we  surprised  to  hear,  in  response  to  our  earnest 
protestations  of  suffering  and  distress,  a  proposition 
to  send  a  commission  at  heavy  expense  throughout 
the  country  to  visit  money  centres  and  marts  of 
trade,  to  investigate  and  report  whether  or  not, 
after  all,  this  universal  cry  for  relief  by  the  wealth 
producers  all  over  the  land,  does  not  proceed  from 
their  total  misconception  of  the  situation. 
•  In  justification,  therefore,  of  this  most  unusual 
proceeding  on  the  part  of  the  farmers  in  applying  to 
the  law-making  power  for  relief,  we  must  appeal  to 
facts  and  truth — facts  as  substantiated  by  statistics, 
and  to  the  truth  of  history— and  I  shall  endeavor  to 
present  nothing  which  is  not  derived  from  and  sup- 
ported by  official  records.  Testimony  carrying  with 
it  the  argument,  rather  than  argument  itself,  is  what 
is  desired. 

DECLINE   IN   AGRICULTURAL  VALUES. 

In  1850  the  farmers  of  the  United  States  owned 
70  per  cent,  of  the  total  weatlh  of  the  country. 
In  i860  they  owned  about  one-half  the  wealth  of 
the  country.  In  1880  they  owned  about  one-third 
the  wealth  of  the  country.  In  1889  they  owned  a 
fraction  less  than  one-fourth  of  the  wealth  of  the 
country. 


DEPRECIATION   IN   THE   VALUE  AND   ACREAGE   OF   FARMS. 

In  i860  the  value  of  farms $6,645,045,007 

In  1850  the  value  of  our  farms 3,271,575,421 

Total  increase  of  value  in  10  years.. $3, 373, 469, 586 

Average  yearly  increase  in  value 337.346,958 

Now  take  the  20  years  following: 

In  1880  the  value  of  farms $10,197,096,776 

In  i860  the  value  of  farms 6,645,045,007 

Total  increase  of  value  in  20  years $3,352,051,769 

Average  yearly  increase  in  value __       177,602,588 

That  is,  the  average  yearly  increase  in  the  value 
of  our  farms  dropped  from  10J  per  cent.,  as  in  the 
years  1850  to  i860,  to  2 \  per  cent.,  as  in  the  years 
i860  to  1880.  And  this  fearful  depreciation  in  the 
value  of  our  farms,  occurred  during  a  period  of 
unexampled  prosperity  and  development  in  the 
commercial,  financial  and  manufacturing  enterprises 
of  the  country. 

Acres. 
Again,  increase  of  the  acreage  of  farms  from  1850 

to   i860,  was 113,640,000 

Average  yearly   increase 11,364,000 

Increase  from  i860  to  1880,  20  years 128,881,835 

Average  yearly   increase 6,444,090 

That  is,  the  increase  in  the  farm  acreage  from 
1850  to  i860,  was  38  per  cent.,  while,  from  i860  to 
1880,  it  dropped  to  31  per  cent.  This  heavy  de- 
crease took  place  during  the  same  prosperous  period 
to  which  I  have  referred  and  during  which  the  pop- 
ulation of  the  country  had  more  than  doubled  : 

Per  cent. 

From  1850  to    i860,   farm  values  increased 101 

From  i860  to  1870,  farm    values  increased 43 

From  1870  to  1880,  farm  values  increased 9 


Yet,  notwithstanding  this  alarming  decline  in  farm 
values,  the  aggregate  wealth  of  the  country  increased 
from  1870  to  1880,  45  per  cent.,  and  the  agricultural 
^population  increased  over  29  per  cent. 

AGRICULTURE   AND    MANUFACTURING. 

It  may  not  be  uninteresting  or  uninstructive  to 
notice  in  this  connection  the  comparative  progress 
between  agriculture  and  manufacturing. 

From  1850  to  i860  agriculture  led  manufacturing 
in  increased  value  of  products  10  per  cent.  From 
1870  to  1880  manufacturing  led  agriculture  27  per 
cent.,  showing  a  difference  of  37  per  cent  in  favor 
of  the  growth  of  manufacturing. 

The  exports  of  American  labor  products  show 
equally  disparaging  and  discouraging  exhibits  : 

Ariculture.  Manufactures. 

In  1881 $730,394-943  $89,219,380 

In  1888 500,840,086  '       130,300,087 

An  increase  during  these  seven  years  in  our 
exports  of  manufactures  of  46  per  cent.,  and  a 
decrease  in  those  years  of  agricultural  products  of 
31  per  cent. 

VALUES  OF    STAPLE   CROPS. 

In  1866  the  wheat,  corn,  rye,  barley,  buckwheat,  , 

hay,  oats,    potatoes,    cotton,  and   tobacco   sold 

for r___ $2,007,462,231 

The  same  crops  for  the  year  1884,  eighteen  years 

later,  sold  for 2,043,500,481 

Notwithstanding  the  cultivated  acreage  had  nearly 
doubled,  and  farm  hands  had  doubled,  and  agricul- 
tural implementsand  machinery  had  vastlyimproved, 
y£t  the  crops  named  for  the  year  1884  sold  for  only 
thirty-six  millions,  or  less  than  2  per  cent.,  more 
than  they  did  for  the  year  1866. 


8 

The  average  price  of  our  cereal  crops  in  1867  was 
very  nearly  one  dollar  per  bushel,  and  in  the  year 
1887  it  was  less  than  fifty  cents  per  bushel.  The 
loss  on  the  crop  of  1887,  as  compared  with  that  of 
1867,  was  over  thirteen  hundred  million  dollars. 

For  ten  years  from  1867,  the  average  value  of 
yield  per  acre  of  oats  was  $12.10.  For  the  past  six 
years  the  average  value  has  been  less  than  eight  dol- 
lars, and  is  lower  to-day  than  ever  before  in  our  his- 
tory. For  the  period  named,  the  average  value  per 
acre  in  yield  of  wheat  was  $14.39;  f°r  tne  Past  six 
years  it  has  been  less  than  $9.  For  the  period 
named  the  average  value  per  acre  in  yield  of  corn 
was  $14.16;  for  the  past  six  years  it  has  averaged 
less  than  $9  per  acre.  The  average  value  per  acre 
in  yield  of  all  our  crops  in  1867  was  $19;  in  1887, 
twenty  years  later,  it  was  about  nine  dollars. 

To  show  that  this  depression  in  prices,  this  shrink- 
age in  values,  does  not  proceed  from  local  conditions 
and  is  not  confined  to  any  section,  or  crop,  or  de- 
partment of  husbandry,  let  us  examine  the  statistics 
of  the  four  leading  staple  crops  of  the  country: 

WHEAT. 

Crop.  Btishels.  Price.  Value. 

.1885 421,086,160  -$r.io  $463,194,776 

1889.... 490,560,000  .86  to-day      421,881,600 

A^  will  be  seen,  the  crop  of  1889  exceeded  the 
crop  of  1885  by  69,473,  840  bushels,  yet  the  crop  of 
1885  would  have  brought,  at  point  of.  export, 
$41,313,186  more  that  of  1889. 

The  wheat  crop  of  1880, .  although  41,090,595 
bushels  less  than  the  crop  of  1889,  would  have 
brought,  at  point  of  export,  $280,036,551  more 
money.  ^ 

i860  to  1870,  average  price  per  bushel — $1-99 

1870  to  1880,  average  price  per  bushel  1.3S 

1S80  to  1887,  average  price  per  bushel _ 107. 

Price  to-day  86  cents  at  point  of  export. 


So  that  the  wheat  farmer  to-day  pays  of  the 
products  of  his  labor  two  and  one-third  times  as 
much  for  a  dollar  as  he  did  from  i860  to  1870. 


Crop.  Bushels.  Value. 

1888 .1,987,790,000  1677,561,580 

1889 -.2,112,892,000  597,918,820 

So  while  the  crop  of  1889  exceeded  that  of  1888 
by  125,102,000  bushels,  yet  it  would  have  brought 
at  point  of  export  $79,642,760  less  money. 

i860  to  1870,  average  price  per  bushel.. 96  cents. 

1870  to  1880,  average  price  per  bushel _  63  cents. 

1880  to  1887,  average  price  per  bushel 46  cents. 

Price  to-day _  37  cents. 

So  that  the  corn  farmer  to-day  pays  in  the 
products  of  his  labor  over  two  and  one-half  times  as 
much  for  a  dollar  as  he  did  during  the  years  of  i860 
to  1870.  Indeed,  throughout  the  great- corn  belt 
of  the  North-west  and  West,  it  is  claimed  that  he 
cannot  sell  it  to-day  at  a  price  covering  the  cost  of 
its  production.  The  State  Board  of  Agriculture  of 
the  great  corn  State  of  Illinois  recently  published 
officially  that  the  farmers  of  that  State  lost  on  the 
corn  crop  of  last  year  $9,935,823  ;  that  is,  it  cost 
that  much  more  to  produce  it  than  it  is.  worth*  on 
the  market. 

The  yield  of  the  three  great  staple  crops  of  corn, 
wheat  and  oats  for  1889,  exceeded  the  yield  of  1888, 
by  242,355,840  bushels,  and  yet  the  crop  of  1! 
was  worth  $144,599,178  more  to  the  farmees. 


Crops.  Bales.  Price.  Value. 

1871 4,352,317         20  cents  $391,708,630 

1887 6,513,623         10  cents  293,093,035 


10 


So  that  the  crop  of  1871  was  2,161,306  bales  less 
than  the  crop  of  1887,  yet  it  brought  the  cotton 
farmer  $98,613,595  more  money.  The  two  crops  of 
1886  and  1887  aggregated  I3>o63,838  bales,  three 
times  as  many  bales  as  the  crop  of  1871,  and  yet 
these  two  crops  brought  our  farmers  only 
$196,164,080,  or  about  50  per  cent  more  than  the 
crop  of  1871. 

In  1870  the  value  of  agricultural  lands  in  the  ten 
cotton  States  was  $1,478,000,000.  In  1880  they 
were  $1,019,000,000,  a  decrease  of  $459,000,000,  or 
31  per  cent. 

Cents. 

i860  to  1870,  average  price  per  pound 4%% 

1870  to  1880,  average  price  per  pound _.       15  7-10 

1880  to  1887,  average  price  per  pound 11 

Price  to-day,  11  cents. 

So  that  the  cotton  farmer  pays  in  the  products  of 
his  labor  over  four  times  as  much  for  a  dollar  as  he 
did  in  the  years  i860  to  1870. 

Lf  a  farmer  had  given  a  mortgage  in  1870  for 
$1,000  he  could  have  paid  it  with  1,052  bushels  of 
corn,  but  if  he  has  paid  one-half  of  it,  the  remaining 
$500,  without  interest,  would  now  require  1,351 
bushels  of  corn  to  pay  it.  He  could  have  paid  the 
$1,000  with  606  bushels  of  wheat  in  1870,  but  if  he 
owed  $500  of  the  debt  to-day  it  would  require  593 
bushels  to  pay  it.  He  could  have  paid  the  $1,000 
in  1870  with  10  bales,  or  5,000  pounds  of  cotton, 
but  if  he  owed  $500  of  it  to-day  it  takes  10  bales,  or 
5,000  pounds  of  cotton.  In  other  words,  the  farmer 
must  pay  his  debts  with  the  products  of  his  labor, 
and  he  must  work  twice  as  hard,  and  give  twice  as 
much  cotton,  corn,  or  wheat  to-day  as  was  required 
in  1870  to  pay  the  same  debt.  But  we  are  told  by 
those  high  in  position  that  the  law  of  supply  and 
demand  controls  prices.     That  may  have  been  true 


II 


before  the  operations  o£  this  ancient  law  .of  trade 
were  practically  supplanted  by  the  more  imperious 
law  of  greed,  as  now  enforced  under  the  mandates 
of  monopolistic  combinations  for  the  pillage  of  hon- 
est labor. 

In  1881  we  produced  498,549,867  bushels  of  wheat 
or  9!  bushels  per  capita,  and  its  price  was  $1.15  per 
bushel.  In  1889  we  produced  490,560,000  or  f\  per 
capita,  and  its  price  is  79  cents  per  bushel,  We 
should  not  forget  that  the  financial  history  of  all 
countries  and  of  all  ages  shows  that  the  law  of  sup- 
ply and  demand,  as  applied  to  money,  is  inexorable 
and  never-failing  in  its  operations.  Scarcity  of  money 
has  never  failed  to  enhance  its  price ;  a  plentiful 
supply  means  cheap  money*.  A  contraction  of  the 
'circulating  medium  always  raises  the  price  of  the 
dollar,  and,  as  a  natural  result,  it  always  depreciates 
the  price  of  labor  products.  Nothing  can  so  surely 
control  or  annul  the  law  of  supply  and  demand  in 
labor  products,  as  a  reduction  of  the  volume  of  cur- 
rency below  the  legitimate  requirements  of  business 
and  trade. 

But  granting  that  the  law  of  supply  and  demand 
is  in  full  force  and  effect,  there  a*e  two  ways  in 
which  prices  change  under  this  law.  Either  a  change 
Jn  demand,  supply  remaining  the  same,  or  a  change 
in  supply,  demand  remaining  the  same.  But  I 
assert,  and  statistics  will  sustain  the  assertion,  that 
there  has  been  no  change  in  the  great  staple 
products  relatively  to  demand  or  to  population  to 
justify  this  great  depreciation  in  prices  ;  unques- 
tionably the  demand  has  not  diminished.  Where 
then  has  been  the  change?  Has  the  weight  of  the 
dollar  been  increased?  Has  the  area  of  our  acre  of 
land  been  curtailed  that  it  should  have  fallen  in 
value  from  33  to  50  per  cent.?  Does  not. a  pound 
of  beef   weigh   now   16  ounces?     Do  we  not   now 


12 


measure  ©ur  wheat  or  corn  -by  the  same  measure? 
Does  not  the  cotton  farmer  give  now  the  same  num- 
ber of  ounces  to  every  pound?  Has  the  change 
been  made  in  the  quantity or  quality  of  the  commod- 
ity, or  has  it  been  made  in  money,  the  measure  of 
its  value?  This  is  the  great  question  that  the 
farmers  of  the  country  desire  and  expect  this  Con- 
gress to  explain. 

But  I  apprehend  that  the  most  zealous  advocate 
of  the  theory  that  the  law  of  supply  and  demand 
controls  the  prices  of  products,  would  not  attempt 
to  claim  that  it  is  applicable  to  all  farm  values. 
Farm  lands  all  over  the  country  have  shared  the 
general  depreciation  or  shrinkage  in  values,  and  in 
this,  perhaps,  is  to  be  found  the  clearest  and  most 
undeniable  proof  of  the  alarming  depression  which 
prevails  among  the  agriculturists  of  the  country. 
Let  us  look  briefly  at  the  condition  of  the  farmers 
in  some  of  the  representative  States  of  the  different 
sections  of  the  country. 

In  Massachusetts  the  value  of  the  farm  lands  in 
1875  was  $1 16,629,849.  In  1885.  it  was  $1 10,700,707 
a  loss  in  ten  years  of  $5,929,142.  In  1865  that  State 
produced  70,000,000  pounds  of  beef,  and  in  1885, 
twenty  years  later,  it  produced  only  10,000,000 
pounds.  In  1845  it  produced  1,015,000  pounds  of 
wool;  in  1865,  609,000  pounds,  and  in  1885,  255,000 
pounds. 

The  farm  lands  of  the  New  England  States: 

Value. 

1850 1372,348,543 

i860 476,303,837 

1870 585,167,473 

18S0 _ 580,579,418 

Showing  a  yearly  increase  for  twenty  years — 1850 
to  1870 — Si 0,690,946,  and  the  yearly  decrease  from 
1870  to  1880,  was  $458,850. 


13 

Take  Georgia,  one  of  the  most  progressive  and 
enterprising  States  of  the  South.  In  i860  the  value 
of  agricultural  lands  returned  for  taxation  was 
$157,000,000.  In  1866  it  was  $105,000,000,  a  loss 
of  33  per  cent.  In  1886  the  farmers  of  Georgia 
owned  72  per  cent,  of  the  wealth  of  the  State;  in 
1888  they  owned  only  24  per  cent. ;  yet  during  that 
time  the  population  increased  60  per  cent.  In  a 
recent  address  made  by  Hon.  L.  F.  Livingston,  of 
that  State,  he  said  that  during  the  past  ten  years 
the  property  in  the  towns  and  cities  of  that  State 
had  increased  in  value  $60,000,000,  while  in  the 
agricultural  districts  it  had  decreased  $50,000,000. 

From  this  State,  great  in  resources  and  enterprise, 
let  us  turn  to  its  peer  in  the  North-west. 

IN   ILLINOIS. 

mortgages  and  totals  of  indebtedness,  principal  and  interest : 

38o — Lands _     $112,367,054 

Lots .. 79,346,851 

Chattels i         12, 747,429 

Total _ $204,461,334 

387 — Lands ....   $147,320,054 

Lots __     246, 704,827 

Chattels 22,354,187 

Total $416,379,068 

An  increase  of  this  class  of  indebtedness  in  seven 
years  of  $2 11,91 71734,  or  103  percent.  . 

On  land  alone  the  increase  of  indebtedness  in 
seven  years  was  $44,953,000,  or  40  per  cent. 

According  to  the  report  of  Hon.  J.  R.  Dodge,  the 
surplus  of  the  corn  and  wheat  crop  overborne  con- 
sumption for  the  last  year  was — 


H 

Bushels.  Value. 

Corn 64,781,250  $14,899,687 

Wheat _„ 20,907,700  14,635,390 


Total  value  of  surplus  corn  and  wheat $29, 535,077 

If  every  bushel  of  surplus  corn  and  wheat  of  last 
year's  crop  were  applied  to  the  mortgage  indebted- 
ness in  1887,  on  the  farm  lands  of  the  State,  there 
would  still  remain  $117,784,977  to  be  paid  out  of  other 
crops  of  earnings.  Or,  after  applying  every  bushel 
of  the  surplus  to  the  mortgage  indebtedness  of  1887 
on  lands,  lots,  and  chattels,  there  would  still  remain 
$386,843,901  unpaid.  Or,  applying  every  bushel  of 
the  surplus  wheat  and  corn  to  the  interest  for  one . 
year,  at  8  per  cent.,  on  the.  mortgage  indebtedness, 
there  would  still  remain  unpaid  of  interest  $3,875,- 
250.  Of  this  mortgage  indebtedness,  non-residents 
and  building  and  loan  associations  hold  claims  to 
the  amount  of  $69,355,639,  or  over  double  the 
amount  of  the  surplus  corn  and  wheat. 

The  increase  of  mortgage  indebtedness  on  lands 
for  loans  from  1870  to  1880  was  21  per  cent.,  and 
from  1880  to  1887  it  was  23  per  cent. 

The  great  State  of  Pennsylvania  is  not  exempt 
from  the  general  depression  which  has  been  indica- 
ted by  the  cases  before  cited.  In  Lancaster  county, 
the  largest  in  agricultural  products  of  any  county  in 
the  United  States,  the  farmers  are  feeling  most 
keenly  the  pressure.  From  one  of  the  leading  attor- 
neys of  Lancaster  I  obtained  the  following  state- 
ment :  "The  assessed  valuation  of  all  the  real  estate 
of  Lancaster  county,  including  city,  town,  and  farm 
property,  is  about  $82,000,000.  The  amount  of 
indebtedness  on  this  property  is  about  $25,000,000. 
The  depreciation  in  farm  values  in  the  past  ten  years 
in  Lancaster  county  is  fully  forty  per  cent,  and  still 
decreasing. 


**  / 

Recently  one  of  the  assessors  for  the  State  of  New 
York  reported  to  the  New  York  Tribune  that  he 
had  visited  fourteen  counties  in  one  of  the  finest 
agricultural  districts,  and  that  while  city  property  is 
advancing  farm  property  is  growing  less  and  less 
valuable. 

Why  multiply  proofs?  The  depression  is  wide- 
spread and  universal. 

In  a  somewhat  elaborate  presentation  of  "Agri- 
cultural Depression  and  its  Causes"  in  his  March 
report,  Hon.  J.  R.  Dodge,  agricultural  statistican, 
says :  "Diversification  is  essential  to  agricultural 
salvation."  That  is,  to  secure  reasonable  reward 
for  labor  and  investment,  the  farmer  should  cultivate 
a  greater  variety  of  crops.  To  arrest  a  downward 
tendency  in  the  market  values  of  crops  and  to  restore 
the  values  of  lands,  a  greater  effort  should  be  made 
to  meet  all  the  demands  for  all  kinds  of  food  prod- 
ucts. Has  this  system  been  tried,  and  has  it 
failed?  Let  us  see?  Take  the  energetic  and  enter- 
prising State  of  Michigan,  than  which  no  State  in 
the  Union,  perhaps,  has  a  broader  system  of  diver- 
sified farming.  Its  whole  surface  is  dotted  with 
thriving  villages,  towns,  and  cities,  and  the  farmers 
have  easy  access  to  large  outside  markets.  The 
State  Labor  Bureau  of  Statistics  reports  that  the 
farms  of  that  State  are  mortgaged  to  the  amount  of 
$130,000,000  or  47  per  cent  of  them,  and  at  an  aver- 
age interest  of  7  per  cent.  The  wheat  crop  of  that 
State  for  1889  was  23,709,000  bushels,  required  for 
home  consumption,  9,246,510  bushels;  leaving  net 
amount  for  sale,  14,462,490  bushels.  To  pay  the 
interest  on  farm  mortgages  for  one  year  at  7  per 
cent  would  require  455,544  bushels  more  than  the 
entire  net  crop. 

The  Commissioner  says  in  his  report:  "The  indi- 
cations  are   that    mortgage  indebtedness  is  rapidly 


i6 


increasing  and  that  farmers  are  not  getting  out  of 
debt."  From  his  investigation  he  deduces  the  fol- 
lowing facts  : 

"i.  That  one-half  of  the  farms  in  Michigan  are 
•mortgaged  and  are  paying  a  double  tax. 

"2.  That  by  reason  of  this  mortgage  indebted- 
ness and  double  taxation  business  of  all  kinds  is 
seriously  affected. 

"3.  That  men  who  loan  money  do  not  bear  their 
just  proportion  of  public  expenses  in  return  for  the 
protection  given  them,  while  the  majority  escape 
taxation." 

In  the  year  of  1887,  there  were  1,667  mortgages 
foreclosed,  and  of  that  number  only  131  were 
redeemed.  In  one  of  the  leading  agricultural  coun- 
ties of  the  State  (St.  Joseph),  I  am  reliably  informed 
there  were  in  the  year  1888  366  foreclosures  of  farm 
mortgages,  one  for  each  day  in  the  year.  Less  than 
four  weeks  ago,  according  to  a  Michigan  paper,  one 
of  the  finest  properties  in  South  Michigan,  located 
in  the  town  of  Three  Rivers,  thirty-four  acres  of 
land  and  buildings  that  cost  $56,000  cash  was  sold 
for  only  about  $8,000.  This,  briefly  stated,  is  the 
condition  of  a  people  who  possess  peculiarly  favor- 
able facilities  for  the  prosecution  of  diversified  farm- 
ing. But  it  may  be  said  that  it  is  a  Western  State, 
one  of  the  youngest  in  the  great  family  of  States, 
and  is,  therefore,  not  a  criterion.  We  might  grant  the 
exception,  but  it  applies  as  well  to  the  great  States 
of  Kansas  and  Nebraska.  I  quote  from  the  Alliance 
Motor,  published  at  Broken  Bow,  Nebraska,  and 
dated  April  17,  1890: 

The  denial  that  the  State  is  not  heavily  covered  with  mortgages, 
is  met  with  the  following  table,  compiled  from  the  official  record  of 
Saline  County,  one  of  the  wealthiest  counties  in  the  State. 


17 

Real  Estate  Mortgages  unsatisfied  on  record  : 

Lands... - $1,816,388  23 

Town  lots 370,963  23 

Total  amount  real  estate  mortgages. $2,187,351  46 

Bonded  debt,  cities  andschools 97,739  *5 

Bank  loans  and  discounts -  1,418,954  41 

Chattel  mortgages  held  by  private  parties  (banks  not 

included)  unreleased,  filed  since  January  1,  1889-.  332,584  44 

Total.. $4,036,646  96 

The  assessor's  value  of  property   against  this  indebtedness  is,  viz  : 

Lands - $1,234,958  00 

Lots.... -  425,773  00 

Personalty 808,266  00 

Total $2,468,997  00 

So  that  in  this  single  county  the  assessed  value  of 
the  property  is  $1,567,649.96  les.s  than  the  recorded 
indebtedness  of  that  county. 

Let  us  come  then  to  a  State  possessing  pre-emi- 
nently advantages  superior  to  any  State  in  the  Union 
for  the  successful  and  profitable  prosecution  of  that 
"diversification"  which  is  "essential  to  our  agricul- 
tural salvation."  I  refer  to  that  beautiful  garden- 
spot  in  the  broad  field  of  American  agriculture,  the 
State  of  New  Jersey.  Diversified  farming,  I  pre- 
sume, no  one  will  deny  should  be  most  profitable 
where  it  has  easy  access  to  ready  markets  or  to  great 
centers  of  population.  Not  only  have  the  farmers 
of  New  Jersey  advanced  to  the  front  rank  in  all  the 
appliances  and  most  improved  system  of  agriculture, 
but  the  whole  State  is,  or  should  be,  the  kitchen 
garden  of  a  population  in  towns  and  cities  withjn 
and  immediately  on  its  borders,  of  not  less  than  four 
and  three-quarter  millions  of  people.  The  County 
of  Salem  has  splendid  facilities  for  reaching  mar- 
kets.    It  is  adapted  to  truck  growing.     The  Board 


of  Agriculture  of  that  county  made  an  official  report 
to  the  Governor  of  the  State  only  a  few  weeks  since, 
in  response  to  inquiries  propounded  by  him  to  the 
various  boards,  in  which  it  was  stated  that  the  lands 
of  that  county  had  decreased  in  value  40  per  cent. 

I  quote  from  Mr.  T.  E.  Wilson,  an  able  statis- 
tician and  editor  of  the  Weekly  World.  He  says  : 
"The  wealth  of  the  State  of  New  Jersey  more  than 
doubled  in  ten  years.  The  individual  wealth  very 
nearly  doubled.  Between  1850  and  i860  the  total 
value  of  the  farms  increased  $60,012,827,  or  50  per 
cent.  The  individual  value  of  each  farm  increased 
$1,420  or  28  per  cent.  Over  35  per  cent,  of  the 
increase  in  wealth  was  divided  among  the  farmers 
and  went  into  their  pockets  for  the  increased  value 
of  the  land  alone.  Between  i860  and  1880  the  total 
increase  in  the  value  of  the  farms  was  only  $10,645,- 
495,  or  5  per  cent,  each,  or  one-quarter  of  1  per  cent., 
yearly,  which  is  not  the  natural  rate  of  'unearned 
increment.'  The  value  of  each  farm  declined  during 
these  years  from  $6,519  to  $5,561.  Only  3  per 
cent,  of  the  increase  in  wealth  went  into  the  pockets 
of  the  farmers." 

From  a  reliable  business  man  in  the  town  of  Flem- 
ington,  the  county  seat  of«Hunterdon,  I  have  obtained 
some  significant  statements.  Be  it  remembered 
that  Hunterdon  is  the  best  agricultural  county  in 
the  State,  and  is  within  a  two  hours'  ride  of  either 
of  the  cities  of  Jersey,  New  York,  Brooklyn,  or 
Philadelphia,  and  is  traversed  in  all  directions  by 
important  lines  of  railway.  I  quote  from  his  state- 
ment of  the  sale  of  six  farms,  all  of  which,  except 
one,  are  located  within  five  miles  of  the  town  of 
Flemington,  and    all  sold  at  public  sale  : 

1.     A  farm  of  120  acres  sold  in  1876   for $10,800 

The  same  farm  sold  in  1 88g    for 5, 280 

*2.     Twenty-five  acres  sold  in  1870  for.. —         5,000 


19 

The  same  sold  in  1886  for i 3,600 

The  same  sold  in  1889  for 2,600 

3.  Two  hundred  and  eighteen  acres  sold  in  1880  for 17,876 

The  same  sold  in  1890  for 8,000 

4.  One  hundred  and  ten  acres  sold  in  1881  for 7,150 

The  same  sold  in  1888  for. 4,510 

5.  Two  hundred  acres  sold  in  1872  for. _ __ 21,000 

The  same  sold  in  1881  for , . 16,400 

The  same  sold  in    18S9  for 8,200 

/    6.     Ninety-eight  acres  sold  in  1877  for 8,882 

The  same  sold  in  1890    for 4,132 

He  says  these  are  all  strictly  good  farms,  and  are 
kept  in  good  condition,  and  adds,  "The  above  is 
about  a  fair  average  of  depreciation  in  farm  lands 
throughout   the    county." 

Go  to  the  States  of  Vermont  and  new  Hampshire, 
whose  every  farm  almost  is  within  the  sound  of  the 
-  bells  or  whistles  of  villages,  towns,  cities,  workshops, 
mills  or  factories — the  land  where  the  farmer  is 
peculiarly  blessed  with  what  is  popularly  known  as 
"home  markets."  Where  is  the  picturesque  beauty 
and  charming  loveliness  that  once  crowned  those  hills 
in  the  glories  of  "diversified  farming?"  The  doleful 
answer  comes  back  from  fields  abandoned  to  briar 
and  brush,  and  from  thousands  of  once  happy  homes, 
now  given  over  to  the  spider  and  the  bat.  I  hold 
in  my  hand  a  pamphlet  of  104  pages,  descriptive  of 
some  of  these  abandoned  farms  in  New  Hampshire, 
and  issued  by  the  Commissioner  of  Agriculture  and 
Immigration  for  that  State.  On  page  9  he  tells 
us  :  "There  have  been  reported  to  us  by  the  select- 
men of  the  various  towns  (townships)  1,442  vacant 
farms,  with  tenantable  buildings."  The  reasons 
given  for  the  abandonment  of  these  farms,  whose 
"large  and  comfortable  buildings,  substantial  fences, 
and  permanent  improvements  make  them  in  every 
way  desirable,"  is,  in  some  instances,  by  death  of 
the  former  occupant,  but  chiefly  the  occupant  has 
gone  into  other  business.     He  distinctly  states  that 


20 


it    is   for    "reasons  traceable  to  other  sources    than 

inferiority  of  soil."     I  open  this  pamphlet  at  random 

and  read : 

*  *  *  *         *         *         *         * 

I  hold  in  my  hand  a  circular  from  the  "Commis- 
sioner of  the  Agricultural  and  Manufacturing  Inter- 
ests" of  the  State  of  Vermont, "prepared,"  as  he  says, 
"in  answer  to  the  many  letters  of  inquiry  relative  to 
the  unoccupied  lands  of  Vermont,"  and  it  is  but  a 
repetition  of  the  same  sad,  sad   story. 

The  same  appalling  story  may  be  told  of  the 
farms  tributary  to  the  Baltimore  market. 

The  Philadelphia  Times  of  last  week  asserted 
that  the  farm  lands  in  the  vicinity  of  that  city  had 
depreciated  in  value  33  to  50 per  cent,  within  the 
last   decade. 

Within  the  sweep  of  vision  from  thedome  of  this 
Capitol,  with  its  300,000  mouths  in  this  city  to  feed, 
hundreds  and'  thousands  of  acres  of  as  fine  farm  land 
as  may  be  found  on  the  Atlantic  slope,  have  depre- 
ciated in  value  from  33  to  50  per  cent.  What  do 
these  startling  facts  and  figures  demonstrate?  They 
do  not  disprove  that  under  ordinarily  favorable  con- 
ditions, a  judicious  diversification  in  farm  husbandry 
is  most  conducive  to  comfort,  prosperity,  and  suc- 
cess, but  they  do  conclusively  demonstrate  that, 
with  our  present  environments  and  surroundings,  to 
adopt  it  as  a  factor  "essential  to  our  agricultural 
salvation"  would  be  to  follow  a  fatal  delusion. 

But,  Mr.  Chairman,  there  are  other  and  still  more 
serious  and  important  phases  of  this  subject  to  be 
considered. 

/"""From  1870  to  1880  the  number-of  farms  in  the 
United  States  under  three  acres  decreased  38  per 
cent.,  while  those  of  one  hundred  to  five  hundred 
acres  increased  300  per  cent.  The  number  of  farms 
of  three    to   ten    acres  decreased  21  per  cent.,  while 


21 


those  from  five  hundred  to  one  thousand  acres  in- 
creased 478  per  cent. 

The  number  of  10  to  20  acres  decreased  13  per 
cent.,  while  those  of  1,000  or  more  acres  increased 
770  per  cent.  In  1880  we  had  145,553  less  farms 
under  50  acres  than  we  had  in  1870,  and  yet  our 
agricultural  population  had  increased  during  that 
decade  29  per  cent. 

To  my  mind  no  more  serious  aspect  of  the  situa- 
tion or  of  the  downward  tendency  of  the  times  can 
be  found  than  is  presented  in  these  figures.  They 
stand  as  a  strong  witness  to  the  fearful  and  deplor- 
able truth  that  through  the  rapid  congestion  of 
wealth,  enriching  the  few  at  the  expense  of  the 
many,  our  population  is  being  rapidly  resolved  into 
two  classes — the  extremely  rich  and  the  extremely 
poor — classes  which  in  all  ages  have  proven  them- 
selves to  be  the  weakest  defenders  of  civil  liberty. 
To  the  student  of  history  and  to  those  who  have  given 
thought  to  the  theory  of  our  Government  and  the 
genius  of  our  free  institutions,  this  rapid  absorption 
of  the  small  farms  and  this  rapid  expansion  of  large, 
landed  estates  portends  the  sure  approach  of  the 
crucial  era  of  our  republican  form  of  Government. 
And  when  that  day  shall  come,  upon  whom  will 
devolve  the  responsibility  and  task  of  preserving 
and  perpetuating  the  blessings  of  free  government 
and  of  civil  liberty,  but  the  great  conservative,  patri- 
otic middle  class  of  our  population  ?  Will  that  peo- 
ple be  prepared  to  meet  it?  In  seeking  a  true 
answer  we  cannot  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  the  ominous 
declaration  proclaimed  in  the  following  figures, 
which  point  unerringly  the  road  which'  is  strewn 
with  the  ruins  of  wrecked  republics : 


22 

WEALTH    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 
I850. 

Total  value  of  taxed  and  untaxed   property $  13,500,000,000 

Assessed  value  of  property 5,275,000,000 

Of  which  the  farmers  were  assessed 4,500,000,000 

i860. 

Total  value  of  taxed  and  untaxed  property $31,000,000,000 

Assessed  value  of  property 12,000,000,000 

Of  which  the  farmers  were  assessed 10,500,000,000 

1870. 

Total  value  of  taxed  and  untaxed   property $30,000,000,000 

Assessed  value  of  property 15,350,000,000 

Of  which  the  farmers   were  assessed 12,500,000,000 

1880. 

Total  value  of  taxed  and   untaxed   property $43,000,500,000 

Assessed  value  of  property ,. 17,000,000,000 

Of  which  the  farmers  were  assessed 14,000,000,000 

]~~  In  1850  the  farmers  of  the  United  States  owned 
70  per  cent,  of  the  total  wealth  of  the  country  and 
paid  85  per  cent,  of  its  taxes.  In  i860  they  owned 
half  the  wealth  of  the  country  and  paid  87  per  cent, 
of  its  taxes.  In  1880  they  owned  only  one-fourth 
of  the  wealth  of  the  country.  The  increase  in  their 
farm  values  during  the  20  years,  from  i860  to  1880, 
had  dropped  from  101  per  cent,  to  only  9  per  cent., 
and  yet  in  this  desperately  reduced  and  weakened 
condition  they  paid  80  per  cent,  of  the  taxes  of  the 

icountry. 

Mr.  Chairman,  is  the  agricultural  interest  of  the 
country  depressed?  And  is  it  due  to  a  want  of 
energy,  of  industry  and  of  economy  on  the  part 
of  the  farmer?  All  over  the  country  he  has 
been    told  for.  years   by  a  certain  school. of   polit- 


23 

ical  economists  that  indolence,  inattention  to  busi- 
ness and  extravagance  were  the  prime  causes  of  his 
increasing  poverty.  But  when  he  comes  to  the 
capitol  of  the  nation  venerable  Senators  and  prom- 
inent Government  officials  inform  him  that  his  finan- 
cial ruin  has  been  wrought  through  his  industry  and 
the  merciful  providence  of  nature's  God  ;  that  he  is 
absolutely  bowed  to  the  earth  under  a  crushing  load 
of  overproduction.  Are  either  of  his  advisers  cor- 
rect ?^  In  answer  to  the  first,  I  assert  without  hes- 
itation, that  no  class  of  citizens  in  our  country  work 
so  hard,  live  so  hard  and  receive  so  little  reward  for 
his  labor  as  the  average  American  farmer.  In  answer 
to  the  second  I  ask,  overproduction  in  what  ?  Is  it 
inbreadstuffs?  We  produced  g|  bushels  of  wheat 
per  capita  in  1888,  which  was  worth  $1.15  per 
bushel.  We  produced  in  1889  only  y\  bushels 
per  capita,  and  it  was  worth  only  79  cents  per 
bushel.7  Our  exports  of  food  products,  under  proper 
and  just  conditions,  should  be  the  true  measure  of 
our  production.  But  is  it  so  ?  The  normal  ration 
of  flour,  as  established  by  our  Government,  and 
which  has  been  kindly  furnished  me  by  the  Secre- 
tary of  War,  is  I  1-8  pounds  per  day,  or  410  pounds 
per  year.  Assuming  that  our  population  numbers 
65,000,000,  to  give  each  a  normal  ration  would 
require  26,650,000,000  pounds,  whereas  we  produced 
last  year  (deducing  56,000,000,  bushels  for  seed) 
only  17,282,400,000  pounds,  a  deficit  of  7,267,600,001 
pounds.  But  if  our  population  had  consumed  2  1-3 
ounces  per  day  per  capita  more  than  they  did  con- 
sume, nothing  would  have  remained  for  export. 
Will  any  sane  man  doubt,  with  our  millions  of  peo- 
ple in  our  cro.wded  cities,  in  our  towns,  in  our 
mines,  and  all  over  the  land,  in  their  hovels  of  pov- 
erty, who  , are' existing  in  a  state  of  semi-starva- 
tion, that  we  dould  have    consumed  this  additional 


24 

pittance?  And  if  the  ruinous  decline  in  prices  be 
due  to  overproduction,  why  should  it  not  be  con- 
fined to  those  commodities  for  which  a  surplus  is 
claimed?  Why  should  all  departments  of  labor 
share  this  universal  depression  in  prices?  No,  Mr. 
Chairman,  it  is  not  overproduction,  but  under-con- 
sumption.  There  can  be  no  overproduction  in  a 
land  where  the  cry  for  bread  is  heard. 

But  we  are  told  that  we  should  be  content  and 
happy  that  "  a  dollar  will  buy  more  to-day  than 
ever  before."  Mr.  Chairman,  the  American  farmer 
stands  a  faithful  and  sorrowing  witness  of  the  truth 
of  that  declaration.  No  man  living  knows  better 
than  he  the  purchasing  power  of  a  dollar.  He 
knows  that  its  power  has  been  so  augmented  that 
it  now  demands  double  the  amount  of  his  labor„and 
the  surrender  of  his  profits  to  meet  its  unjust  and 
cruel  exactions.  Indeed,  so  arbitrary  and  domi- 
neering has  its  power  become,  that  it  has  forced 
upon  the  public  mind  the  grave'  question,  whether 
the  citizen  or  the  dollar  is  to  be  the  sovereign  in  this 
country.  But  with  all  its  power  will  it  pay  for  the 
farmer  more  interest  ?  Will  it  pay  more  on  his 
mortgage?  Will  it  pay  more  debt?  Will  it  pay 
more  taxes?  Will  it  pay  more  physicians'  and 
lawyers'  fees?  From  all  sections  of  this  magnificent 
country  comes  the  universal  wail  of  hard  times  and 
distress.  The  farmer  sows  in  faith,  he  toils  in  hope, 
but  reaps  in  disappointment  and  despair.  He  sees 
a  4  per  cent.  U.  S.  bond  due  in  1907,  selling  at  a 
premium  of  28  per  cent.,  a  bond  that  would  be 
valueless  but  for  the  sturdy  blows  of  his  strong  arm, 
and  yet  lie  knows  that  there  are  few  farms  in  all 
this  country  that  could  be  mortgaged  for  one-third 
their  value  at  7  per  cent,  for  the  same  length  of 
time,  which  mortgage  would  sell  for  its^ace  value. 
He   sees   centralized    capital   allied  to  irresponsible 


25 

corporate  power,  overriding  individual  rights,  con- 
trolling conventions,  corrupting  the  ballot-box,  sub- 
sidizing the  press,  invading  our  temples  of  justice, 
intimidating  official  authority,  fostering  official  cor- 
ruption, robbing  the  many  to  enrich  the  few, 
destroying  legitimate  competition,  dictating  legis- 
lation, defying  the  Constitution  and  annulling  the 
law  of  supply  and  demand.  In  vain  do  the  people 
plead  for  relief.  In  vain  have  they  suffered  and 
endured — patiently,  submissively,  uncomplainingly. 
Over  one  thousand  years  ago  the  old  Sheik  Ilderim 
of  Medina  said  to  certain  Romans :  "  Do  you 
dream  that  because  the  prophet  of  Allah  dwells  now 
beyond  the  bridge  of  Al  Sirat,  that,  therefore,  he  is 
deaf  and  dumb  and  blind  ?  I  tell  you  by  the  splen- 
dor of  God,  that  a  tempest  is  brooding  on  his  brow; 
there  is  lightning  gathering  in  his  soul  for  you." 
Do  men  dream  that  because  the  sovereign,  oppressed 
people  have  thus  suffered,  thus  endured,  that  there- 
fore they  have  become  deaf  and  dumb  and  blind? 
But  we  are  told  that  these  forms  of  oppression  are 
not  prohibited  by  law.  There  are  no  people  on 
earth  who  have  greater  reverence  for  law  than  the 
farmers  of  these  United  States,  but  they  know  that 
no  tyranny  is  so  degrading  as  legalized  tyranny ; 
that  no  injustice  is  so  oppressive  as  that  which  stands 
entrenched  behind  the  forms  of  law,  and  worthy 
descendants  as  they  are  of  a  grand  old  revolutionary 
ancestry,  they  may  not  forget  that  the  tyrannical 
mandates  of  George  the  Third  were  accompanied 
by  the  boastful  declaration  that  he  too  was  the 
rightful  occupant  of  the  British  throne  under  the 
forms  of  the  law. 

Mr.  Chairman,  retrogression  in  American  agri- 
culture means  national  decline,  national  decay,  and 
ultimate  and  inevitable  ruin.  The  glory  of  our  civ- 
ilization cannot  survive  the    neglect  of  our    agricul- 


26 


ture ;  the  power  and  grandeur  of  this  great  country 
cannot  survive  the  degradation  of  the  Americam 
farmer. 

Struggle,  toil  and  suffer  as  he  may,  each  recur- 
ring year  has  brought  to  him  smaller  reward  for  his 
labor,  until  to-day,  surrounded  by  the  most  w©nder- 
ful  progress  and  development  the  world  has  ever 
witnessed,  he  is  confronted  and  appalled  with  im- 
pending bankruptcy  and  ruin.  Crops  may  fail,  dis- 
aster may  come  and  sweep  away  his  earnings  as  by 
a  breath,  prices  may  go  below  the  cost  of  produc- 
tion, but  the  inevitable  tax-collector  never  fails  to 
call  upon  him  with  increased  demands.  Is  it  any 
wonder  that  these  struggling  and  oppressed  mil- 
lions are  organizing  for  relief  and  protection  ? 

THE   CAUSES. 

We  protest,  with  all  reverence,  that  it  is  not 
God's  fault.  We  protest  that  it  is  not  the  farmers' 
fault.  We  believe,  and  so  charge,  solemnly  and 
deliberately,  that  it  is  the  fault  of  the  financial  sys- 
tem of  the  Government — a  system  that  has  placed 
on  agriculture  an  undue,  unjust,  and  intolerable 
proportion  of  the  burthens  of  taxation,  while  it 
makes  that  great  interest  the  helpless  victim  of  the 
rapacious  greed  and  tyrannical  power  of  gold.  A 
system  through  which,  despite  the  admonitions  of 
history  and  the  experience  of  all  countries  in  all 
ages  ;  despite  the  teachings  and  warnings  of  the 
ablest  men  in  the  science  of  political  economy  in 
this  and  in  all  countries,  our  currency  has  been  con- 
tracted to  a  volume  totally  inadequate  to  the  neces- 
sities of  the  people  and  the  demands  of  trade,  and 
with  the  natural  and  inevitable  result  —  high-priced 
money  and  low-priced  products. 


27 


THE   REMEDY. 

1.  Restore  to  silver  its  dignity  and  place  as  a 
money  metal,  with  all  the  rights  of  coinage  and  all 
the  qualities  of  legal  tender  which  gold  possesses. 

2.  Issue  sufficient  amounts  of  currency  direct  to 
the  people,  at  a  low  rate  of  interest,  to  meet  the 
legitimate  demands  of  the  business  of  the  country, 
and  which  shall  be  legal  tender  for  all  debts,  public 
and   private. 

3.  Secure  to  such  issue  equal  dignity  with  the 
money  metals  by  basing  it  on  real,  tangible,  sub- 
stantial values. 

These  were  the  central  ideas  which  prompted  the 
action  of  the  St.  Louis  convention  when  that  body 
asked  for  the  free  and  unrestricted  coinage  of  silver, 
and  for  an  increased  volume  of  currency  to  meet 
the  imcreasing  demands  of  the  country,  and  pre- 
sented through  Senator  Vance  to  the  Senate  the 
bill  now  under  consideration. 

As  I  am  to  be  followed  by  Dr.  C.  W.  Macune, 
ehairman  of  the  National  Committee  on  Legislation, 
who  will  address  himself  more  particularly  to  the 
merits  and  details  of  the  system  as  outlined  in 
the  bill,  I  will  beg  the  kind  indulgence  of  the  com- 
mittee for  a  remark  as  to  only  two  points. 

It  is  charged  that  to  adopt  this  bill,  which  pro- 
vides for  the  issuing  of  money  by  the  Government 
to  the  farmers  at  1  per  cent,  on  the  security  therein 
provided  for,  would  be  to  establish  paternalism  in 
our  Government.  Is  it  paternalism  for  the  Govern- 
ment to  issue  to  the  farmers  of  the  country  money 
on  short  time  at  1  per  cent,  on  evidences  of  wealth, 
when  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  it  has  been  issuing 
money  to  the  banks  at  1  per  certt.  on  evidences  of 
indebtedness?  Is  it  paternalism  --to  issue  money  to 
the  farmers  on  those  products  which  the  world  needs 
and  must  have,  and  which  are  stored  in  warehouses, 


28 


when  the  Government  has  for  these  long  years 
been  storing  whiskey  in  warehouses,  and  whose 
certificates  of  deposit  on  the  same  are  negotia- 
ble in  all  the  banks  of  the  land?  Is  it  paternal- 
ism or  criminal  for  the  Government  to  accept  the 
voluntary  tender  of  a  valid  and  substantial  security 
in  the  property  of  the  citizen  for  an  issue  of  money, 
when  that  Government,  for  all  time,  has  based  its 
faith  and  credit  for  the  issue  of  money  on  its  power 
to  tax  that  same  property  ? 

It  is  urged  that  the  products  we  offer  as  security 
are  perishable.  True;  but  are  they  more  perish- 
able in  carefully  constructed  warehouses,  after  hav- 
ing been  carefully  inspected  and  classified,  than  they 
are  when  stored  in  the  barns  of  the  farmer?  What 
proportion  of  that  class  of  the  proposed  crops,  which 
only  would  be  admitted  to  the  warehouse  under  an 
efficient  system  of  inspection,  is  lost  to  the  farmers 
annually,  even  under  the  rude  and  careless  system 
in  which  they  are  now  largely  stored  ?  The  world 
buys  these  products  from  the  barns  and  uses 
them.  Would  it  not  do  so  as  well  from  the  Govern- 
ment warehouses  ?  The  demands  for  annual  con- 
sumption would  preclude  the  possibility  of  an  accu- 
mulation or  retention  of  these  products  beyond  their 
natural  period  of  self-preserving  power.  Indeed,  this 
system  of  warehouse  storage,  with  certificates  of  de- 
posit freely  negotiable  on  the  values  stored,  has  been 
in  successful  practical  operation  in  this  country  for 
several  years,  and  is  constantly  enlarging.  Its 
convenience,  its  utility,  and  its  safety  commend  it 
to  the  trust  companies  and  bankers  as  among  the 
very  best  forms  of  security  for  large  advances,  and 
they  are  eagerly  sought.  I  refer  particularly  to  the 
system  of  cold-storage  warehouses  now  operated  in 
the  city  of  New  York  and  established  several  years 
ago.      Goods    to    the    amount     of    thousands    and 


29 

'millions,  especially  of  high-class  imported  goods, 
are  stored  for  their  better  preservation,  and  advances 
are  freely  made  to  the  extent  of  80  to  90  per  cent, 
of  their  value  at  6  per  cent.,  unless  arrangement 
is  made  for  lower  interest.  There  has  never  been, 
a  case  of  loss  in  the  business,  and  there  is  great 
competition  among  the  banks  and  trust  companies 
to  make  these  advances.  If  this  cl^ss  of  goods, 
whose  extremely  delicate  texture  and  finish  render 
them  highly  susceptible  to  damage,  stored  in  ware- 
houses which  are  not  claimed  to  be  fire-proof,  is  re- 
garded and  sought  by  the  capitalists  and  banks  as  safe 
and  desirable  security  for  liberal  loans,  why  could 
not  cotton,  wheat,  corn  and  oats  be  rendered 
equally  safe  and  desirable  as  security,  especially  as, 
from  the  very  nature  of  things,  no  considerable 
amount  of  these  crops  would  remain  in  storage  for 
a  longer  time,  most  probably,  than  six  months? 

Again,  the  wheat  farmers  of  California  have  built 
their  own  warehouses  for  the  storage  of  their  wheat, 
which  are  in  charge  of  agents  of  their  own  choosing. 
These  agents  grade  or  classify  the  grain  and  issue  to 
the  farmers  certificates  of  deposit.  The  Grangers' 
Bank  of  San  Francisco,  which  was  incorporated 
April,  1874,  with  an  authorized  capital  of  $1,000,- 
000,  which  has  a  paid-up  capital  and  reserve  fund 
of  $800,000,  which  has  paid  dividends  to  stock- 
holders of  $627,500,  freely  makes  advances  on  these 
certificates  of  deposit  held  by  the  farmers.  I  am 
reliably  informed  that  it  loaned  to  the  wheat  farmers 
of  that  State  $3,000,000  during  the  year  1889  on 
these  certificates. 

But  if  it  be  true,  as  has  been  asserted  by  the  best 
authority  on  the  subject,  that  the  world  is  only 
eighteen  months  in  advance  of  starvation,  does  not 
the  preservation  of  food  products  become  a  ques- 
tion of  incalculable  and  universal  importance  to 
humanity  ?      At    a    time   when    universal    famine 


30 

threatened  the  nations,  the  genius  of  Joseph  gave  to 
the  world  a  system  of  storage  from  which  it  was  fed 
for  seven  years.  It  was  successfully  practiced  by  the 
ancient  Egyptians  and  Romans, and  in  the  exploration 
of  science  the  grain  then  stored — thousands  of  years 
ago — is  found  to  possess  its  powers  of  germination 
as  perfectly  and  as  vigorously  as  though  it  were  har- 
vested one  year  ago.  The  most  thorough  scientific 
investigation  has  established  beyond  question  that 
the  whole  process,  which  has  long  been  the  wonder 
of  mankind,  consisted  only  and  simply  in  exclu- 
ding the  air  from  the  storage  vaults:  The  con- 
struction of  these  vaults,  with,  their  facilities  and 
rude  appliances,  it  is  true,  were  of  immense  cost, 
but  the  great  end  was  accomplished.  And  the 
secret  which  has  been  buried  in  these  dark  storage 
rooms  for  centuries  has  been  brought  to  light  by 
the  hand  of  science,  and  the  world  was  as  much 
amazed  at  its  simplicity  as  it  had  been  confounded 
by  its  hidden  mystery.  And  the  inventive  genius 
and  acute  perception  of  the  enterprising,  aggressive 
American,  has  discovered  opportunity  and  methods 
for  utilizing  this  knowledge  at  infinitely  superior 
advantage  to  that  of  the  ancients.  , 

It  is  found  that  homogeneous  steel  is  impervious 
to  air.  Upon  estimates  made  by  leading  civil  engi- 
neers— men  of  world-wide  reputation — receptacles  of 
carrying  capacity  for  the  storage  of  grain  and  other 
products,  may  be  constructed  of  this  material  at  a 
less  cost  than  ill  is  possible  to  construct  them  of 
stone  or  brick  or  wood.  This  steel  may  be  had  in 
unlimited  quantities  and  at  a  cost  not  to  exceed 
two  cents  per  pound,  and  it  is  claimed  and  asserted 
that  these  steel  storage  rooms  may  be  built  at  a 
cost  not  to  excee'd  four  cents  per  bushel.  Steel 
storage    warerooms  for  cotton   can  be  constructed, 


3i 

fire-proof,  water-proof  and  weather-proof,  of  a  ca- 
pacity of  one  thousand  bales  and  upward,  at  a  cost 
not  to  exceed  one  dollar  and  thirty  cents  per  bale. 

If  upon  investigation  it  be  demonstrated  that 
such  are  the  facts,  it  solves  a  problem  of  transcend- 
ant  importance  to  the  whole  world.  It  removes  all 
objections  as  to  the  cost  of  storage  room  for  prod- 
ucts proposed  in  this  bill.  It  would  silence  *all 
objection  as  to  the  perishable  character  of  the 
security  we  offer.  It  would  give  us  a  storage  abso- 
lutely fire-proof,  water-proof  and  weather-proof,  and 
thus  enable  us  to  place  with  the  Goverment  the 
safest,  most  reliable,  and  most  desirable  security 
the  world  could  afford.  The  saving  in  insurance 
alone,  it  is  claimed,  would  cancel  the  cost  of  con- 
struction in  the  short  period  of  five  years.  Fraught 
with  possibilities  for  good  to  mankind  almost  incon- 
ceivable, and  supplying  as  it  would  to  our  Govern- 
ment a  basis  of  values  superior  to  even  silver  and 
gold  for  its  currency,  I  beg  respectfully  to  submit 
the  suggestion  that  it  is  at  least  worthy  the  atten- 
tion and  investigation  of  the  leading  representative 
body  of  the  most  progressive  people  of  the  world. 

We  submit  this  bill,  Mr.  Chairman,  with  due  def- 
erence to  the  intelligence,  judgment  and  wisdom  of 
your  body.  We  do  not  claim  that  it  is  the  best,  or 
the  only  measure  through  which  relief  may  be 
brought  to  our  oppressed,  suffering  and  distressed 
people,  but  we  submit  it  as  the  best  we  have  been 
able  to  devise.  We  would  be  only  too  happy  to  re- 
ceive at  your  hands  a  wiser  and  a  better  measure. 
But,  Mr.  Chairman,  these  suffering  millibns  must 
have  relief.  They  ask  for  bread  and  will  not  be 
content  with  a  stone.  They  are  not  asking  for 
charity,  but  they  are  demanding  justice.  They  are 
not    asking  for -special    legislation,   through    which 


32 

their  interest  may  be  promoted  at  the  expense  of 
any  other  interest  of  the  country,  but  they  demand 
that  the  heavy  hand  of  oppressive  discrimination  be 
lifted  from  them,  and  that  they  be  allowed  an  open 
field  and  an  equal  chance  with  the  other  great  in- 
dustries of  the  country. 


i 


FOR  USE  ONLY  IN 
THE  NORTH  CAROLINA  COLLECTION 


THfS  TITLE  HAS  BEEN  MiCROFiLMQ 


